FOOD

Friday, September 11, 2009

Fu Zhou Egg Noodles and Fish Balls in Chinatown

Every place has its specialty and Fu Zhou Cuisine (118 E. Eldridge Street) and Tang Tou Wangs Cuisine (15E Eldridge Street) certainly has found its niche market in serving up noodles in a peanut butter sauce and fish balls with a pork filling. These goodies are offered in an affordable way and when I say affordable, I mean CHEAP! Everything on the menu is between $2 to $3! and YES, these dishes are very good! If one location is full, there is another one three blocks away and since these two locations are owned by the same family, the taste and quality are the same.

First, the peanut butter sauce noodles were AMAZING. Yes, I do admit it sounds a bit odd... and if you're used to eating Lo Mein noodles or Wonton Noodle soup -- then this may sound very bizarre -- but, if you have an open mind and are willing to treat your taste buds to something new -- then this dish is for you! As you can see in the photos above, there is a process in making these egg noodles (left to right). Aside from having the noodles boiled in water, the noodles are poured into a peanut sauce mixed with chives and sesame oil (and other secret ingredients) ... and immediately after, its stirred and swirled in the sauce until the noodles have absorbed all of the sauce. Once that's done -- get ready to taste it! and its O so good for $2!

Next are the pork balls, or what I would like to call Fish Balls with a special surprise. At first, it seemed very odd to have a fish ball with minced pork inside of it, but don't knock it until you try it! The order comes in a bowl of soup, which you can sip afterwards. Add a little of soy sauce and you are set to devour these delicious things so fast, you'll want to order another one before you're done!

There are two sizes for the fish balls (with or without meat filling) -- Large fishballs ($2 for 4 and $3 for 6) or Small fishballs ($2 for 7 and $3 for 11). Btw, if you're turned off by the meaty filling, you can order fish balls without the pork inside. The typical fish balls, are well, just fish; however, these meaty fish balls is a new twist to fish balls that come from the Fujian Province (which is the combination of Fuzhou and Jian'ou) located in southeast China.

Now comes the hard part -- the ordering. If you are brave, you will visit the 15E Eldridge Tang Tou Wangs Cuisine location and point your finger at someone else's dish to get your dish (as you will notice in the left photo -- the food items are stated in Chinese); or, you can take the easy route and visit Fu Zhou Cuisine on 118 E. Eldridge (sister location) and order from the menu on the right. Believe me, its much easier to order food from the English menu than playing charades at the restaurant -- you want the food to be your adventure, not the ordering process! If you can read and speak Chinese, it may still be difficult to get your point across as most of the workers speak Fu Zhou, a language dissimilar to Cantonese and Mandarin (Mandarin may get you by; but Cantonese is not understood here). I just learned from one of the owner's family members ... that if you visit the 118 E Eldridge location after 2 p.m., there is always a person who can speak English (thanks Pearl, ).

If you get lost, here are pictures of the store front. Tang Tou Wangs Cuisine (left photo) is located at 15E Eldridge Street and is a bit difficult to find -- but you'll notice it by the steps down to the restaurant and the two counter top seating areas inside the alley like restaurant. Fu Zhou Cuisine is located at 118 Eldridge Street (approx. three blocks north of its original store) and its on the corner of Broome and Eldridge Street (this location has a better seating arrangement).

Other food items:Other customers mentioned that the dumplings were among the popular dishes offered here. I didn't have room in my stomach to try it all -- so, next time -- but there is a photo of someone making it on the right hand side!

as always, I love taking photos of the people making the food... so thank you to those hard workers in the kitchen for providing such yummy food!